Housing
by TeeSquared
Summary: What if every time you died, you could have a second chance at life...with one catch: you age backwards one year! The team gets to deal with just that sort of person! Contains OC.
1. Step 1

**Step 1:**

* * *

><p><strong>JULY 26<strong>

"Please don't think, I'll go along with this…" the young man frowned deeply with his arms crossed.

"Oh, c'mon, Nic," the older man slapped the boy on the back, "Be a sport and do it!"

Nic scoured at the man, "I can't really say I appreciate you changing everything last minute, Hatch."

Hatch let out a bellowing laugh and smacked the boy on the back again, "C'mon it can't be that hard for our genius!"

"Being a genius doesn't even mean anything if you change the stunt last minute every other show!" he hissed, "It's one thing for me to be able to adjust, but I'm not the only person performing, _remember_, Hatch?"

The older man smiled at the younger boy and put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't sweat the details, Nic, just do your thing."

"…" Nic kept an even look with him before turning away with a sigh, "There's no use trying to reason with you. Whatever."

With that, Nic threw in the towel and made his way out of the tent. No use trying to speak with the man that laughed at logic.

A woman walked in shortly after Nic had left, "Hatch."

"Hmm? Oh, Cherie~ there you are!"

He held his arms out to his wife who walked over and let him kiss her cheek.

"…Hatch," she said seriously, "When are you going to tell him what you're really doing?"

"Doing?"

"You know what I mean," she narrowed her eyes at him, "Pretending to change the performance when all you're doing is making up his on the spot."

"Oh, you mean training him?" Hatch looked out the opening of the tent, "Who knows…"

"Hatch," the woman sighed and hugged him, "There's no reason to do that. We're just a small circus now, not criminals or superheroes, okay?"

The man carefully wrapped his arms around his wife.

"I know, but I can't help but be worried for him…" he smiled down wistfully at her, "He's like a real son you know?"

"…I know, Hatch, I know."

* * *

><p>"Oh, sweet, we get to go to the circus!" Wally exclaimed pumping his fist into the air once.<p>

"Ahh, this is so exciting!" Megan cried holding her cheeks with both hands.

"…The circus?" Connor said giving Kaldur a look who shrugged his shoulders.

"Actually," Artemis stepped in, "It's just a small troupe. Their carnival is going to be in town for the week."

"A whole week?" Megan exclaimed, "Oh, please tell me we're going today!"

Everyone turned to look expectantly at Red Tornado who happened to be in the room. The Justice League member met their stares and walked out of the room.

"I'll take that as a yes!" the Kid Flash whooped.

* * *

><p><em><strong> CRASH!<strong>_

The entire building fell down disheveling dirt and smoke into the air. The Boy Wonder angrily swiped away at the interference until his vision cleared. Several unconscious bodies lied around him and his mentor, but not the main player.

"He got away," Robin scowled.

"For now," Batman said stepping forward. He pulled out a small screen that had a small moving red blip, "But we can still catch him."

He let Robin see just where the target was headed.

"I'll put the team on alert."

* * *

><p><strong>JULY 28<strong>

"Amazing," Megan breathed watching all of the acrobatic stunts.

"I know right?" Wally was quick to follow Megan's interests, "But you know that Lion tamer was cool too-"

"I don't know…" Megan hesitated, "The man stuck his head in its mouth you know…"

"What?" the ginger suddenly sat up straight, "I mean, what was I saying, of course this is so much cooler than the lion tamer!"

Artemis scoffed and rolled her eyes at the antics of the boy, who in turn shot her a look.

Kaldur on the other hand was equally engrossed with the display of acrobatic skill as Megan was.

"The boy is really impressive," he said, "It's almost like watching Robin…but in the circus."

It was sort of ironic that his face was masked also, though the entire troupe had masks on.

Suddenly their comms went off and they looked at each other.

* * *

><p>"I thought this was supposed to be a day off?" Wally shouted to his fellow teammates still in "civie" attire.<p>

"There's nothing we can do about it now," Aqualad replied from his side, "We just need to stop him before anyone gets hurt."

There in the middle of the arena the villain was holding the Ring Leader hostage along with his female assistant. Other armed men were situated throughout the crowd, weapons pointed at the audience.

"Got it covered-" Superboy was interrupted as the lead acrobat leaped down from nowhere and at the assailant.

He managed to land a kick right on the head honcho's face and landed easily on his feet. The nameless villain stumbled backwards and lost his grip on his two hostages. He gritted his teeth together and aimed a punch at the boy's face, but he smoothly somersaulted backwards and out of range.

The man shouted something incomprehensible and shot a full round at the boy. He lithely dodged the panging bullets and made his way closer to the villain. Realizing that his round was gone, he angrily threw the gun at the boy and shouted at his men. Half of the men jumped out from the bleachers and made their way towards the boy.

"We have to help him!" Megan screened through her mind link.

"I know!" Kaldur thought gritting his teeth. He glared at the man holding an AK47 to his side.

"I got this!" Wally replied before zooming past the people into the center. He was almost by the boy's side helping him out when the boy pulled a roundhouse kick on him. Wally went flying into several of the armed men.

Apparently the boy hadn't intentionally hit the Kid Flash when a wave of confusion flooded his face.

"Wha-"

_**WHAM!**_

The back of an AK47 hit him square in the head. He was thrown to the ground with a groan before being forcefully pulled to his feet by the front of his uniform. He was staring straight into the face of the unnamed villain. The man growled at him.

"You damn brat."

_ "Ngh…"_

Both of them looked over when the ginger haired Wally groaned. He was being held from both arms by two of the armed men.

"Annoying brats," he hissed again.

"Get rid of him. He can be the first example."

On the order one of the men pulled out his gun and pointed at the unexpecting hero.

_"Don't you dare!" "Don't!" "KF!"_ the young team exclaimed.

_**"Stop!"**_ the circus ring leader suddenly roared.** "Do not hurt the civilians!"**

The villain scoffed, "Or what? You'll throw a rabbit at me? Don't make me laugh."

"My name is Hatch," the man grit out, "I'll do anything-"

"You idiot!" the boy suddenly shouted and started to struggle.

_"YOU WILL BE QUIET!"_ Hatch shouted and turned his attention back at the man, "I will do anything. Just do not hurt the civilians."

The twisted man looked down at the boy in his grip and back at the ring leader and smirked.

"I'll let them go if they leave their belongings and you kill all of your troupe!" he smiled wickedly, "How's that sound? I'll let 'em go and everything."

"Y-you bastard!" the boy struggled even more.

He was hit with the blunt side of a gun and fell to the gravel.

"I never did like the circus. Start with the brat first."

Hatch was shoved forward in front of the boy.

"Nic…"

Nic kept his eyes closed and his breath hitched when he felt something hard and cold touch his chest over his heart.

"Hatch?" he whispered.

"All you need to do…is wait two minutes," the man said in equal softness, "Just two minutes and you'll be all better. I see some people here that can take care of you."

_"What?_ Wait, Ha-"

_**BANG!**_

"NO!"

* * *

><p>After the boy was shot, the Ring leader shot himself and his assistant followed his example. The two fell limp beside the boy. It only took milliseconds for everyone to start screaming and for the team to get into action. Wally came to soon enough and helped out with the tussle.<p>

In only a few minutes the criminals were apprehended and bound together with some of the tight line rope. Shortly after which, Batman and Robin dropped into the scene.

The criminal had been apprehended and everyone, along with most all of the circus crew, had been able to escape, but there still had been three casualties. Even though they had won, the team was defeated. Aqualad filled the dynamic duo in on what had gone down.

"The Ring Leader…" Superboy whispered and everyone turned to him.

"He said something to him. 'I see some people here that can take care of you,' right before he shot him," he recalled from what he had heard with his super hearing.

Batman walked over and looked at the fallen Circus troupe and his eyes scanned over the face of the Ring Leader. His lips tightened just a margin and he knew exactly who the man was.

"Hatch O'Reilly," Batman said.

"You know him?" Robin asked.

"We had been acquaintances at one point," the Dark Knight replied, "He was a Wizard. A real one, but he could only make Illusions and the basics."

"He was on the Justice League?" the Kid Flash interrupted.

"A small time villain," Batman said turning away and to the boy beside the dead man, "Nothing big enough to be a real threat, and he gave up on his criminal record the first time he was caught and became a small time vigilante."

"More than likely," he continued, "the rest of the circus crew were all his illusions."

"What?" Wally frowned.

"Then that means…" Aqualad trailed off while Megan finished for him.

"These three were the only real people in the circus?"

Batman nodded his head.

The sound of sirens was suddenly close.

"We'll leave this to the rest of the authorities…" Batman looked down at the boy with blood coming out of his chest. He walked over and picked him up.

"Uhhhh, Batman," Wally took a step back, "You know that guy is dead right?"

Robin ran over to him and looked for a pulse, "He doesn't have a pulse and he's not breathing Batman."

Megan frowned, "He's not thinking anything either."

"He's definitely dead," Artemis snapped, "What are you going to do with a dead body?"

Batman strode past them easily.

"Return to the cave," he ordered, "Now."

* * *

><p>Batman watched warily as Alfred removed articles of the boy's trapeze uniform. He may have searched dead bodies before but something about this was unsettling and even more so because he felt like he just couldn't leave the boy there.<p>

"Sir," Alfred said breaking the silence.

Bruce Wayne walked over in full Batman attire and leaned over them. Alfred had cleaned all the blood away and was pointing at the boy's wound.

"Considering everything that happened, this wound shouldn't look like this," the butler continued and looked straight at Batman, "the body also doesn't seem to show any sign of _rigor mortis_."

"Definitely dead though…"

More importantly he was looking at the moderately large marking on the young man's chest. The basic shape formed a circular form with an "x" shape that extended from a smaller circle and to the outside of the larger circle. Probably some sort of celtic design. He wasn't too surprised that the boy had a tatoo. Plenty of people his age had tattoos in Gotham.

Suddenly they heard a muted sound—something like moving through liquid. They both turned to the boy, or more specifically his wound. The skin around the wound seemed still at first before it seemed to tremble. A small trickle of blood started from the wound, then a small piece of metal glinted from the entry hole before being forced out.

It was the bullet that had killed the boy.

Suddenly the boy's eyes sprang open and he shot up in the bed grabbing wildly at his chest and breathing heavily.

_"Hatch,"_ he choked, _"Oh god, Hatch."_

Alfred shared a look with the Dark Knight before standing at his side.

"Something like this should not be possible."

Batman nodded his head, "He must be why Hatch dropped off the radar."

At the mention of the Ring Leader's name, the boy's head jerked to the side.

The despair left his face in an instant, but settled in his eyes as a thin line formed on his lips. The boy forced his breathing to slow down and he stared at them both evenly, edging as far away from them as possible before actually falling off the bed.

"What's going on?" he questioned sharply.

Batman crossed his arms, "That's what I'd like to know."

The boy's expression did not change.

"The dead don't just come back to life.

* * *

><p><strong>AUGUST 12<strong>

_ "RECOGNIZED: BATMAN 02." _

At the sound of the computer voice announcing the Dark Knights arrival the Young Justice team made their way to greet him. The man was in his uniform while the youths were all in their civilian clothes. They had been planning to go out.

"A mission?" Aqualad asked.

Batman nodded his head, "It can wait, briefing in a few. I need to speak with Robin first," after no one moved he added a, "now," to make them scatter.

Robin, keeping his complete attention on his mentor tilted his head to the side, "What's up Batman?"

"We're heading out for a bit," he said before turning away to leave the cave.

Not any least bit taken aback by his mentor's behavior he quickly followed after the older man.

"Where are we going?"

"No where too far."

Robin could almost hear the laugh in his voice. He looked up at Batman with the faintest tinge of confusion.

"Batman-"

"You can come out now."

"Who can?" before Robin could be answered someone dropped down from a tree right behind him. He spun around to kick the sudden offender when his leg was caught and he found himself knocked off of his feet.

_"Oomph,"_ the boy wonder lied there on his back, the air knocked out of him, not knowing what just happened.

"Sorry," a tenor voice said above him, "You surprised me."

A hand was held out to him and he could only see the outline of a young man standing above him.

"Ah, no," Robin grabbed the hand that pulled him up firmly, "I was surprised too."

His vision out of the sun, he got a better look at the taller boy. He had messy, black hair that barely covered his ears, most of it covered by a dark fedora. He was wearing a light blue cardigan that reached past his pants pockets over a black turtleneck. His cardigan was also hanging a little off of one shoulder; probably from the small tussle he had just had with Robin. Then he was wearing simple jeans and plain black converse. But what caught most of his attention was the thin black glass covering his eyes. Glasses?

"Robin, this is Victory," Batman put a hand on his protégé's shoulder, "he'll be staying at Mt. Justice till he can be placed somewhere safer."

"Oh, I see," Robin blinked behind his shades and held out his hand to Victory. The other young man gave him a firm hand shake with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Robin."

"Yeah! Nice to meet you—"

Something clicked in the Boy Wonder's head suddenly and he jumped back pointing at the person he had just shaken hands with.

_** "AHH, YOU- YOU'RE THE- YOU'RE DEAD!"**_

Victory gave him a slightly hurt look, "Obviously not. Want to check my pulse?"

Robin didn't seem the least bit convinced and still had his hand raised in the air pointed at him.

"Robin," Batman started, "Victory is indeed the person you met the other day."

Victory at the moment was looking somewhere off to the side, a look of mild confusion on his face. He was trying to remember when he might have met Robin and was drawing up nothing. Of course he wouldn't, seeing as he was _dead_ when the Boy Wonder had made his appearance.

"And he did die that night."

Robin suddenly took another step back, "You mean he's dead? The undead?"

Victory's head snapped back to attention, "Hey, I'm not dead. Didn't I say that already?"

The Dark Knight cleared his throat catching both of their attentions.

"Robin. He died, but came back to life," he saw Robin open his mouth to say something again, but cut him off, "He's not undead or a zombie."

"…Then why is he here?" Robin asked understanding the situation a little more, "Besides the dying and coming back to life thing, he's still a civilian isn't he?"

"It's a safety precaution," Batman explained calmly, "Victory has the ability to come back to life and apparently an incredible sense of intuition."

Robin stared at him.

"The other day may have been coincidence with Johnson," he said in regards to the criminal from the circus, "but it doesn't hurt to be safe."

Robin made an "O" with his mouth.

"So...we're watching him?"

"Keeping him under the radar till the League can figure out what to do."

"Ah..." Robin turned to Victory again. "So, what now?"

"You'll go on your mission with the team while Victory settles in;" Batman said turning once again, "I've already informed Black Canary and Red Tornado about this."

Robin nodded his head and began following after his mentor when Victory spoke up again.

"Uh, Batman...would it be alright if I could go today?"

"Negative, Victory," Batman said without turning, "It's too risky for you to head out alone still."

It looked like Victory had something he wanted to say but cut himself off with a shake of his head. He followed after the man that had brought him there.

* * *

><p>Nic looked behind him once before closing his eyes and walking up to Mount Justice. He wanted to go back to that place...the last place he had been with...his family. It had been over a week by now. Eventually they would take the circus tent away and dispose of it...<p>

...Just once, it might have been a little immature for an eighteen year old, but he wanted to see it one last time at least.

And so before either of the dynamic duo could notice, Nicodème J. Wyatt disappeared from their presence.

After slipping away, Nic broke out into a sprint. He didn't want to risk getting caught by the Dark Knight. It'd be no effort for the man to catch him. He didn't want to be under the care of anyone either. He was eighteen...he could take care of himself. Plus, no one else in the world seemed to know about his coming back to life incident so he doubted Batman's worries were truly justified.

He wasn't exactly sure how far he'd even gotten before he heard rapid movement behind him. He risked a glance over his shoulder to see a boy in yellow running after him. He must have been Kid Flash.

The boy ran in front of Nic to stop him but he pushed off of a root he had stepped on and onto the trunk of a tree where he jumped to another before vaulting clear ahead of the momentarily shocked superhero.

Having passed the Kid Flash something else whizzed by his ear, an arrow. He darted behind a tree making sure to keep running. He'd use the trees to give him some coverage for now. He smiled a little after hearing the _THUD _that the arrows made while hitting the trees behind him.

Suddenly something glinted in the corner of his eyes. _Water?_ It was like a rope and very much so about to grab him. He managed a running somersault over its grasp twice and kept running. It was getting a little tricky now. He gritted his teeth together.

_** "URAAAAAAH!"**_

Eyes wide under the glasses, Nic barely dodged the landing of the much bulkier boy. Wearing the signature "S" on his chest, he must have been Superboy. And though Nic had dodged the landing he lost some of his footing from the heavy impact.

The Kyptonian swung a fist at him and Nic just barely dropped to his knees in time. Before the boy could get a hit in Nic was already off and running again.

His eyes widened again when he saw a wall of pebbles and stones suddenly form in front of him, obstructing his path. His head shot up to where a girl with green skin was flying above him. He made a clicking sound with the back of his tongue as he skidded to a stop just before the completed wall. As he faced his back to the wall, his pursuers gathered around him.

Kid Flash. Artemis. Aqualad. Superboy. Miss M.

Breathing a little heavily, Nic looked at them all evenly and ran straight at them. Taken slightly off guard the team of five tensed and watched as Nic…ran right past them. He bolted up the trunk of a tree behind them and used it to propel himself over the makeshift barricade.

* * *

><p><strong>TheArtist(T1): Young Justice is my new favorite cartoon. I hope that I don't make Nic seem to overpowered; he just caught them all by surprise, heh. Please let me know what you think! And, ahaha...sorry, I'll go work on my other stories now...<strong>

**This will have an update up next week on Friday(May 6) even though I have finals coming up, because-tada- I already have the next chapter ready!**


	2. Step 2

**Step 2:**

* * *

><p>His feet made a muted thud as he landed rolling on his feet. Without waiting to completely gain his balance he sprinted off again. In the back of his mind he heard someone else's feet padding behind him.<p>

* * *

><p>The group gaped at what just happened, well some of them did.<p>

"Did you see that?" Kid Flash threw his arms up in the direction their target had disappeared off to, "I thought the guy was a civilian! Civilians can't do that!"

Aqualad stared off in the direction where their target had disappeared off to.

"I agree." He turned to his teammates minus the Boy Wonder that had vanished. "I believe there is something that Batman is not telling us about this mission."

"You can worry about that later," a voice said behind them, "For now, complete your mission."

* * *

><p>Somewhat out of breath now, Nic jumped over the yellow caution tape and made the final stretch to the circus tent.<p>

He was only meters away before something whizzed past him. He jumped back from seeing the Bataring fly by him and ended up getting caught by his ankles while simultaneously getting hit in the back with something. It pricked his back and as he fell he dully noted that it was an arrow laced with some sort of paralytic effect.

_"This is the guy?"_

_"Yeah, definitely."_

Nic felt his consciousness slip away. He was so must have been the closest he would ever get to the circus. It was almost as if some sort of cruel fate was mocking him and holding his old life away from him at a hair's distance.

_It hurt._

* * *

><p>When the rest of the team caught up, Robin and Red Arrow were already standing above their unconscious target.<p>

"Good work," Batman said walking up, "Return to the cave with him."

"Uhhh, what about you Batman?"

"Do_ I_ still need to be here?"

One look from the Dark Knight had Robin and Red Arrow both biting back their words.

"Right, back to the cave!"

Red Arrow scowled but bent down to their target. He had already plucked the arrow from his back earlier and so was about to lift him up when Aqualad calmly intervened.

"It is the least I can do."

"Do what you want," he grumbled.

Batman waited till after the team of adolescents had left before turning back to the circus tent.

When he made it into the abandoned tent a voice greeted him.

_"Back again, Batman?"_ the voice laughed.

"Hatch."

Before him stood the form of Hatch O'Reilly. Though it wasn't truly him. It was an apparition of him made by magic.

"It's a shame I didn't get to explain things to that boy," it said with a sad smile.

"You still can."

The apparition shook its head, "No. I especially made this apparition only to inform you, or whoever else he'd be with. And by the looks of it, my magic will have run out soon."  
>Batman didn't really like magic. And he didn't really enjoy talking to the apparitions of the dead, even if they weren't really ghosts.<p>

"Well, since I'm about to disappear can I leave you with something to give to him?"

"You should give it to him yourself."

"You know I can't leave the grounds of the magic circle and it would be interrupted if he entered it."

Batman let out a short sigh.

"Thanks Ol' Wayne," it barked with laughter before fading away.

Batman felt a weight in the palm of his hand. A golden ring with a large red stone and two smaller green stones beside it. On the inside of the band it read in elegant engraving, _"To my Son."_

* * *

><p>The metal door hissed shut as Batman was away from the team quarters. Now he had to fill in the confused teenagers.<p>

All eyes were on him as he made his way in front of them. Expectantly they stared with the exception of Red Tornado.

Robin especially wanted to know why Batman had introduced the young man then sent them on a mission after him. Was he expecting Victory to have run away? Or was there really another mission? However, it didn't seem very likely that there was a second mission.

"You managed to keep the target from reaching his destination," he said scanning over each of them, "But just barely."

He saw a few of them flinch, "If there was someone distracting you while he ran away, he probably would have made it."

Superboy growled and threw an arm back, "He caught us off guard! If you told us more about him then we would've stopped him easy!"

"Yeah! He was definitely more than just a civilian!" Kid Flash added.

Batman's eyes narrowed at them and his mouth set in a terse line. Kid Flash flinched and looked away meekly. Superboy remained tense but looked away with a "tsk."

"And what will you do when you face an opponent no one has met before? Don't ever be fooled by appearances," he started to pull up the computers, "Don't expect everything you need to know to be given to you."

Their target showed up on the screen. There was literally no information on him but the bare facts: his age, birth date, height, and weight. Nothing about his eye color, blood type, and even less about his actual background. Victory probably wasn't his name either and they couldn't be sure about his birthday either; he could have given false information. The only thing they knew was that he was-

**"AHHH! FROM THE CIRCUS?"** Kid Flash shouted grabbing at his hair before looking at his teammates and pointing at the screen, **"HE'S DEAD? WE CAUGHT A GHOST?"**

"He's not dead," everyone turned Robin. The Boy Wonder was scratching the back of his head as if not sure of what he'd said himself, "I'm sure Bats can tell you more..."

Once again everyone turned to Batman, who nodded his head. The man pulled up another screen cathing everyone attention.

He was still looking into it, but he could at least tell them what he knew for sure.

"Victory has the ability to come back to life-"

"EEEE?," Kid Flash jumped back, _"A zombie?"_

Artemis smacked him on the back of the head, "Can't you be serious for a minute?"

Robin snickered into his closed hand, "He's alive just like the rest of us."

Everyone turned back to Batman. His expression spelled, 'Not Amused.'

"Eh heh...Sorry," Kid Flash retreated.

"Though he can come back to life, his abilities are limited. He has a set amount of times that he can do this and there's a major side effect," a video of his blood and DNA showed up on the screen, "He loses a year of life. I'm still looking into what might happen along with this; but for now none of his memories seem impaired."

"Amazing..." Ms. M. whispered, "Would that make him immortal?"

"No," Robin frowned, "Obviously if he loses a year of life each time he _'comes back'_", Robin used his fingers to air quote 'comes back', "there isn't a year before one."

"So, what?" Superboy stared at the screen trying to make sense of it all, "He just _poofs_?"

"I'm still looking into that." Batman repeated. The screens all closed.

"Then what do we do?" Red Arrow asked arms crossed.

"Before any of this, Victory is still a civilian. He doesn't know about any of this," Batman turned away, "Your responsibility is to watch him and keep him and his abilities secret."

He nodded to Red Tornado, "Eventually the Justice League will take him and he'll be quietly left alone a normal citizen with some supervision. For now it's the best to keep him here."

Then he left with Red Tornado leaving the young heroes on their own.

There was a silence that filled in the absence of the older men.

"Ah, well," Robin turned to his friends, "At least he's eighteen and not some old geezer right?"

"Right," Megan smiled, "I'm sure we'll all get along nicely!"

_"If you ignore the part that we captured him,"_ Red Arrow said under his breath and turned on his heel.

"Huh, where you going, Speedy?" Wally asked running up to his side.

Roy Harper turned on him and seethed,_ "It's Red Arrow."_

Wally stepped back with arms up in surrender, "Right, sorry, Red Arrow, _yeesh_."

Red Arrow ignored him, "If we want to know anything."

He led them to the newly used room.

"We should ask him ourselves if we want to know anything."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Fshh.<em>**

As the door finally shut, he breathed a deep breath very slowly and held it. He didn't move at all for a few seconds, straining to try and hear the footsteps of the Dark Knight. It was ridiculously difficult with these rooms.

He gave up attempting to track the man and let out his breath out all at once with a sigh. He could feel his temples pulse for a bit before he settled out. He pushed himself up from the bed and sighed again. He turned around to check the small table at the head of the bed. His eyelids dropped low as he stared at the item Batman had left behind.

Tentatively, he reached out, hesitated once, before encompassing the object with his hand. He paused for a second before even slower cupping his hand and pulling the small object into his palm. He leaned forward slightly to look at what was in his open hand. A ring that was all to similar to the one Hatch used to wear.

Nic clenched his fist to his chest and leaned back hitting his head against the wall. He gritted his teeth together. What was he supposed to do now? Hatch was the one that had raised him. Since he knew about Nic already, it was apparent that the man and his wife had killed themselves so that Nic and the other civilians could escape.

But now...

_"Oh, god, no,"_ he choked and slumped forward. His head hit his knees as he held the ring to his chest with the one hand and with the other he held his head, "Hatch. Cherie."

They were gone. He'd never had to deal with losing his actual parents, since he was young when he'd lost them. Instead, Hatch and Cherie had taken their places and now they were gone.

It wasn't like he could go out and get revenge, the criminal had already been caught and brought to justice. There really was nothing he could do.

He clenched his fists. The ring bit into his hand and his hair tugged painfully in his hand.

Nic didn't keep track of how long he sat like that, the finger molding its imprint on his palm. He inhaled deeply and the air hiss out from between his teeth. It might end up being a bad decision, and it was rash, but for now he just wanted to get out. He didn't need to be where he was at the current moment. It's not like anyone had ever gone after him for his...ability before, so why would anyone now? He didn't find the protection of Justice League or this group of "mini-me's" any bit necessary. If anything, they were troublesome.

Yeah, he was eighteen. He could take care of himself.

He carefully put the ring away in his pocket as he stood up. Now he needed to look around for a way- Of course there was only one way out. The door. He walked over quietly as possible with the intentions of peaking out to see if the coast was clear before he heard a pair of angry footsteps.

Thinking quickly, he grabbed the ledge of the door and hoisted himself upside down. Before his back could press against the wall and gravity pull him back down he let his feet grip the ceiling to keep him in place. He held his breath.

* * *

><p>The door slid open with a hiss only to show that no one was in the room.<p>

"Huh," the Kid Flash peeked past the Red Arrow to look inside the room, "He's not-**WHOA!"**

_**WHOOSH.**_

Victory swooped down right over Wally and kicking the red archer out of the way and straight into Robin.

His cardigan floated in the air only for a second as he landed squarely on the ground behind them.

"Wh-what?" Kid Flash said from his spot on the ground where he had stumbled from surprise. Before he could fully react to the situation, Victory was already sprinting down the hallway.

"Stop him!" Red Arrow growled as he shot up to run after him.

"R-right!"

"Do you think we should have stopped Speedy?"

"Red Arrow," Artemis reminded from her seat on one of the couches.

Superboy glanced back at Megan from his spot on the longer couch, "Robin and Kid Flash are both there."

"Yeah," Artemis said off-handily leaning back, "They've got it covered-"

Just then Victory ran right past her. She and Superboy swiveled in their seats to see the blue cardigan pass them. Then a flash of yellow and red followed shortly after it. There was a muted thud and a cheer from the Kid Flash.

"I got him!"

Robin and Red Arrow ran past them. The three of them looked at each other before following suit.

Kid Flash had Victory pinned on the ground with both of his arms held behind his back. The ginger was grinning at his accomplishment while the captured Victory looked a little less than pleased. He was lying on the ground with his arms held behind his back. With a sigh he let his cheek press against the floor his unique glasses biting into his skin. Escape failed.

Aqualad walked in front opposite them. He gave one look at them and understood the situation immediately.

"Why is it that you continue to try and escape?"

Victory sighed again, "He said that he would let me go if I could manage to escape."

"He?" Aqualad looked up at Robin and the others, "Does he mean Batman?"

Robin shrugged his shoulders. His communicator suddenly went off and he turned away from the group to respond to it.

"Still here," Victory mumbled under his breath.

"Quiet you," Red Arrow bit out. Maybe he was a little bitter from getting kicked in the gut.

Victory groaned, "Okay, okay, I get it. Sorry for stepping on your coat," he said figuratively.

"Can I get up now?" he heaved a breath, "I don't really like being sat on."

"How do we know you're not going to make a run for it?" Artemis crossed her arms.

"Well, it's not like he can outrun me," Kid Flash said leaning forward. Victory groaned in discomfort as more air was pushed out his lungs by the pressure on his diaphragm.

"Well, he can obviously outwit you."

"You-"

"Seriously," Victory gasped, "Right on my diaphragm."

"I don't think he's going to make a run for it," Robin said with a grin, "The agreement with Bats was two attempts every twenty four hours!"

He tapped on his wrist to show them that he had just spoken with the said older man.

"What's stopping him from running off again?" Artemis asked suspiciously. She didn't feel like running after him again.

"Batman says he'll go after him himself," Robin said noting Victory's look of defeat...Ha- punny, how clever!

Satisfied with the guarantee, Kid Flash hopped up from his spot and stood amongst his friends.

Artemis let out an exasperated sigh shortly followed by a whatever a she turned sharply on her heel away from them. Now she had to deal with a guy trying to run away everyday? No thanks, the others could take care of that. She wasn't a babysitter. It didn't file under her job description.

Victory sighed deeply and pulled himself up to a sitting position. A hand appeared in his line of vision...a green hand. He looked up to see the young alien girl extending a helping hand to him. He smiled nervously and took her hand. She pulled him up pretty easily.

...He couldn't have been that light.

He looked around at the younger group of heroes standing around him. It was quite the crew. Now if he was correct, they were Miss M, Superboy, Kid Flash, Robin, Aqualad, Spee-  
>"It's Red Arrow," the young man in question narrowed his eyes at Victory as if he knew exactly what he was thinking.<p>

Victory was quick to raise his arms up in defense. He forced a smile though it came out more like a grimace.

"I didn't say _anything_."

His masked eyes narrowed at him. Victory raised his shoulders once and tilted his head slightly.

"Whatever," he stepped forward, "We've got to take care of you now, but we've got our own responsibilities too, so try _not_ to be a handful." He jabbed his finger at Victory's chest a few times for emphasis. Victory did not appreciate it at all.  
>He swatted his hand away with a straight lip, since no one could see the soft glare behind his eyes.<p>

"If you can't take what's in front of you," Victory started, "Then maybe you should step away from the platform."

Robin's ears perked up at the acrobatic reference. He, no everyone, could feel the tension growing in the room. The Boy Wonder stepped in between them.

"C'mon guys," he said, "No fighting."

The two young men stayed like that for a moment before Red Arrow broke off with a huff. He mumbled under his breath and stormed off.  
>Victory sighed.<p>

_"RECOGNIZED: RED ARROW B06." _

If he couldn't get out soon...this was going to be a very long and wearisome stay.

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><p><strong>Hey guys, I see some of you have favorited or alerted this story! I'm glad and all, but hopefully you'll leave a review of what you think? Thanks and Peace.<strong>


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